Review and Measurements of Lake People G109-S Amp

[amirm]

Their violectric-branded amps are said to be better performing aside from better looking than their Lake-People counterparts. Needless to say, I'm curious to see measurements of one. I have their V280 which I used to drive my HE-6.

So, how about sending it in for review if you are in US?

 

[Jimster480]

The much reduced 50 millivolt output does degrade the situation a lot at 81 dB:

I love the graph here! Please test some other popular amps on this graph. Such as the Atom, THX AAA 789, JDS O2, Topping A30, Magni 3?

It will give us a much better spread of the actual headphone performance from relative products

 

[amirm]

Will do.....

 

[Jimster480]

Will do.....

Do you have a THX AAA 789 for testing?

 

[amirm]

Do you have a THX AAA 789 for testing?

I own one, yes.

 

[headwhacker]

So, how about sending it in for review if you are in US?

I would love to send a few of Amps/DAC for you to measure. Problem is I don't live in US

 

[Jimster480]

I own one, yes.

I figured you would

 

[MRC01]

I like this new 50mV test. It makes a lot of sense to measure at the levels people actually listen, and 50 mV seems about right. That's about 77 dB SPL with a Sennheiser HD 600, 83 dB SPL on an Audeze LCD-2 Fazor. Headphones have widely varying voltage sensitivity, but 50 mV seems to be a good round number and sweet spot.

The initial 50 mV results show that performance at full volume is not representative of performance at 50 mV. That makes it an interesting & enlightening new measurement.

 

[Jimster480]

I like this new 50mV test. It makes a lot of sense to measure at the levels people actually listen, and 50 mV seems about right. That's about 77 dB SPL with a Sennheiser HD 600, 83 dB SPL on an Audeze LCD-2 Fazor. Headphones have widely varying voltage sensitivity, but 50 mV seems to be a good round number and sweet spot.

The initial 50 mV results show that performance at full volume is not representative of performance at 50 mV. That makes it an interesting & enlightening new measurement.

Its probably the level that I listen to (might even be higher) and I know around what my friends listen to aswell. Its like the perfect measurement for "real world" performance lol

 

[dudewithcans]

hello amir, thank you for the review. very interesting!

i just had a G100-W at home for a short audition. too sad i have to send it back tomorrow, as it arrived a bit late and i need to leave for some weeks and have to send it back to not loose my EU " free send-back" warranty...

as far as i know, the G100-W is the father of G109 and violectric V100.

i have to say im VERY impressed with the power this device puts out... its literally INSANE compared to my actual hpa (which is an old lite audio DAC-AM)...

the G100-W has unlike the G109 no SMD parts as far as i know and 5 jumper settings for gain, -12/-6/0/+6/+12.
i tested with 0 and +6dB.
on 0 i was a bit underwhelmed with DT880/250, but set to +6dB gain, beyond 12oclock this amp really does a serious job, i have no clue whats going to happen on +12dB


unlike yourself, im VERY impressed by the housing... to me, its nothing short of PERFECTLY build. i think, it looks much nicer then the G103/G109 series housings.

only thing i noticed are the plastic buttons for the switches, which i guess are a bit "retro" or vintage feel...

and sure, it does not look "hifi", but i assume its intended... for "good looks", they have the violectric line? the G109 is actually for professional use as far as i know and im sure thats the reason why it has no external gain switch aswell, and you have to open the case to use jumper for gain control... to me, this makes sense.


the G100-W DOES have unbalanced and balanced XLR input, has an input switch (unlike auto-switching on G109-P) and its 120euro less... 400euro MSRP in EU.

i think its a MUCH better deal for consumers then G109-P (which is around 520)

so, as for competition in EU, there is simply not one single device i can think of in that pricerange, which would be equal:

equal high power output
minimal output impedance
balanced input
quality integrated power supply
AND a good quality case with premium pot (RK27)

there simply are none.
im not talking about devices that put out 100mW into 300Ohm, theres plenty!
im talking about really powerful devices to drive headphones which need that power.

the only contender in my opinion spec whise we can buy here as you mentioned is the atom for around 150-160euro.
but honestly, alot ppl wont buy it for the plastic case and the pot alone... regarding haptic and feel, the atom is not only not in the same league, its not even in the same game...

not to mention it

has no balanced input (debateable wether this is useful to users, or not)
obviously does have some flaws (reading about some poti hissing, some stuck relais, wobbly volume control)
has that external power brick which alot of ppl simply dont like...

all acceptable things for such a flawless performance at that price, i totally agree, but it is still, in my opinion, NEVER a direct contender to a lake people device like the g100-w... its simply the only alternative performance/spec wise in a given pricerange.

whether the advantages of g100-w are worth the 2.5x price, is debateable aswell, thats true.

and the THX AAA 789 is simply not an option in EU, as there is no importer so far, so has to be imported directly (which gives you alot trouble for warranty issues), and, with taxes and shipping fee, in the end cost the same or more... heck, is it available at all atm, i mean in the US? i have no massdrop account so i donno how this works tbh.

what would be REALLY interesting, how the G103-S would perform compared to the here mentioned devices, as it is not 400, but only 265euro in EU... but then again, i dont know about its availability in the US/ME/APAC.

but i totally agree on recommendations regarding buying the G109-s... if someone askes me to buy the G109-s or G109-p, id say buy the G100-w, IF you need the output power. thats what this device was designed for in my opinion, demanding 300 or 600Ohm headphones. if i dont have a demanding headphone, why would i want to buy a totally overpowered amp for my needs then in the first place, that would make zero sense (unless i plan to MAYBE buy one in the future, and want to be prepared for that already), i could simply go with a topping dx3 pro for 200 and be happy, AND get the DAC for free...

 

[dudewithcans]

here is the inside of the G100-W:

 

[Zerviscos]

Conclusions
The physical appearance of the Lake People G109-S doesn't do much for me. For all the money you are spending, you are not going to get a case that "looks pretty just sitting there." It is what I expect to see in a $150 box.

The engineering and design though, appears to be excellent. I could find no fault with it. Good use of discrete output stage produces high voltage swings making the unit very good fit for high impedance headphones. Performance is still very good at low impedance but perhaps a bit worse.

The G109-S unfortunately faces stiff competition against the JDS Labs Atom which would match or beat its performance at just USD $99. The feel of the volume control is better than the Atom and the metal enclosure and inclusion of power supply are small pluses. But lack of gain switch is a big turn off.

For its price, the G109-S competes against Massdrop THX AAA 789 which costs nearly half as much. It has external gain switches, XLR output and much nicer looking enclosure. Alas, availability is poor as of this writing.

For people in the EU who want to buy locally, the Lake People G109-S is a very nice performer and would be a good option, perhaps better than any other alternatives of the units I have tested.

I will marginally recommend the Lake People G109-S considering that the value is not there. Nor the looks.

Hi, very nice read. I would like to ask, if this is a better buy than the Atom if I buy it used for around $150 free shipping? Because I can get the G109A(the anniversary edition of this that has Gold text) for around $150, used, and I can also get the Atom for around $120 if including shipping. I know gain control is a huge minus, but i still has pre-gain. Was hoping if this is a better buy as opposed to the Atom, or is the Atom a better performer overall? Using an HD6XX, and will most likely buy more headphones and even IEMs like the Ikko OH10. Thanks.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Hi, very nice read. I would like to ask, if this is a better buy than the Atom if I buy it used for around $150 free shipping? Because I can get the G109A(the anniversary edition of this that has Gold text) for around $150, used, and I can also get the Atom for around $120 if including shipping. I know gain control is a huge minus, but i still has pre-gain. Was hoping if this is a better buy as opposed to the Atom, or is the Atom a better performer overall? Using an HD6XX, and will most likely buy more headphones and even IEMs like the Ikko OH10. Thanks.

If you only use hd6xx then it's superb.
But considering you are also using iems, so no good, Atom is much better due to its low noise. However there is still channel balance issue on Atom. You can use digital volume control for extra attenuation before reaching imbalance range.

 

[xaviescacs]

I have the former model, the G100, which I bought for 420 € a few years ago. This is the picture.

To me it looks like they have more or less the same components but rearranged to save space and change de form factor. It sounds very neutral, a little boring for my taste, specially with a boring headphones.